Rep. Kim Min-seok Confident in Chu's Acquittal, Says "The Real Insurrection Was the Democratic Party's Delay for Lee Jae-myung"

Kim said he testified clearly about the situation at the time and explained why the charge cannot stand. He said prosecutors prepared 130 questions for him, more than the defense, and that all of them failed.

He added that the special prosecutor called him as a witness while he was a sitting lawmaker, and that his vote in favor of lifting martial law put the prosecution in a rather unfavorable position.

As a lawmaker in the plenary chamber at the time, he said he judged that he had to attend the vote and defend against the Democratic Party's moves.

Kim added that the Democratic Party was clearly going to claim that the opposition had 'ignored the public and tried to vote it down alone,' so he deliberately took part in the vote to prove that claim wrong.

He said Chu never told him not to take part in the vote or to step out for a moment.

He stressed that if any such instruction had been given, he would have testified to it, and that his current testimony contains no risk of perjury.

Kim criticized the special prosecutor's logic that lawmakers had to vote unconditionally on the martial law lifting, and that not attending or causing confusion amounted to insurrection. He said lawmakers have a range of choices, including voting in favor, against, abstaining, or not attending.

Kim argued the special prosecutor's claim that every lawmaker must mandatorily take part in a particular vote has no legal basis. He also countered that if lawmakers' absence is a problem, the special prosecutor should investigate Lee Jae-myung as well.

He said the claim that passage required over 200 seats is not true and that this point will be important at trial. He also explained that the prosecution's argument rests on the premise that the Democratic Party could not have passed it alone, when in fact it could have done so.

He testified that even Democratic lawmakers complained at the caucus meeting, asking for a quick vote, but the caucus kept putting it off.

Kim said he later learned the vote proceeded as soon as Lee entered, and that the vote time, originally set for 1:30, was suddenly moved up to 1:00 to match Lee's schedule. He criticized this as an infringement on the powers of lawmakers, who are constitutional organs, and an obstruction of the vote.

Kim was confident prosecutors could not refute the 'insurrection plot' claim. He said that if vote obstruction is the issue, what matters is how quickly the vote was passed once 150 seats were already secured. He argued that if failing to attend the vote was wrong, delaying it was also wrong, so the Democratic Party should be investigated too.

He stressed that under the special prosecutor's logic, the delay caused by Lee Jae-myung should be the first thing questioned. Kim strongly objected to selective prosecution, asking why the Democratic Party faced no search and no investigation while People Power Party lawmakers were subjected to arrest warrants that were rejected and then indicted.

Kim argued that the claim that holding the caucus meeting at the party headquarters caused confusion makes no sense. He pointed out that because the National Assembly was initially blocked, even former leader Han Dong-hoon held the Supreme Council meeting at the party headquarters.

He noted that the party leader issued the notice calling members to the headquarters at the time, and argued that if the notice caused confusion, that applies equally to Floor Leader Chu and former leader Han. He asked whether lawmakers could really deliberate on the street, given that the headquarters was announced because the Assembly was temporarily blocked.

Kim explained that his reason for voting on the martial law lifting was not the illegality of martial law. He said the legal assessment of martial law is still on trial and is yet to be judged, and that his practical aim in voting was to prevent the Democratic Party from pinning a strange frame on them after passing it alone.

Kim said he kept checking how many Democratic lawmakers were gathering, and judged that if they could pass it among themselves, the People Power Party could avoid the Democratic Party's frame by deliberately letting it pass. He asked how the number of participants could become a criminal matter when the Democratic Party alone could pass it.

Kim stressed that the positions of the Democratic Party and the People Power Party differ. He explained that the People Power Party, as the ruling party at the time, had a responsibility to gather more information and judge carefully, while the Democratic Party, as the opposition, opposed everything the People Power Party did, so its answer was already set.

He assessed that the Democratic Party lawmakers were not people who would weigh the situation and decide whether to lift it, and added that they would have tried to lift it unconditionally.

Kim argued there was no vote obstruction because the Democratic Party could have passed the martial law lifting anyway. He asked what was actually obstructed, since the result would not have changed whether Floor Leader Chu told members to gather at the headquarters or at the Assembly. Kim stressed that obstruction requires a result and a victim, and that he, having taken part in the vote, suffered no harm.

He said prosecutors are pressing him to name a victim, and despite his statement that he was not harmed, asked absurd questions such as 'Ju Jin-woo was harmed, because he was recorded at the headquarters.' He also rejected a question asking whether, being in the plenary chamber and seeing the caucus venue moved to the headquarters, he didn't think to go there, saying he had struggled to get into the Assembly and could not go back out.

Kim said he pressed the prosecutor relentlessly on why the vote was not moved quickly even though the Democratic Party had already passed 150 seats. He rebutted the prosecutor's framing that the 150 seats came only later, saying that is not the case. He pointed to video of Democratic lawmakers urging Speaker Ui Won-sik to vote quickly.

Kim noted that Speaker Ui kept saying 'please wait,' and questioned why they had to wait for Lee Jae-myung when some 180 lawmakers, as separate constitutional organs, were gathered. He said the delay caused by Lee should be investigated, and that under the special prosecutor's own logic, this is the real vote obstruction. He stressed that the vote proceeded immediately after Lee entered, and that if speed is the issue, it was Lee who caused the delay.

He said he does not know whether the trial content will be made public later, but criticized prosecutors for forcing him to play the victim even though he was not obstructed from voting.

He said that if he voted for impeachment against his own view, it would become hard to stand with him.

He said he held firm to his opposition to impeachment at the time and has not moved from that position.

Kim said he considered boycotting the party event as a protest, but questioned why he should avoid his own party's event and attended. He explained the photo controversy, saying he did not deliberately stand next to a particular person.

He said a disabled attendee arrived late, so he gave up the spot where he was about to take a photo on the first floor, and that he ended up standing in the only remaining place beside them. He called accusing him of 'pretending to be close' leftist propaganda.

He argued the party must make every effort to stop this trial.

He urged that Chu's trial be treated not as a personal matter but as an issue for the whole party, with all party resources mobilized in response.

He explained that the essence of a party is not to attack a fellow member from behind, but to help without hesitation when a colleague is in trouble.

He added that he considers any attitude of scheming for personal gain impossible, and emphasized the importance of comradeship and solidarity.

He made this position clear, expressing strong commitment to reforming the National Election Commission.

He stressed that now is not the time for such discussions.

He lectured that anyone with genuine political ambition should join forces to pull the country out of its crisis, after which nobody would object to their personal ambitions.

He argued they should go out and file a complaint, or appear on TV to talk about Lee Jae-myung's wrongdoing, or at the very least make a theme song like his.

He added that only after such effort can someone be qualified to judge whether Ju Jin-woo did well or not.